Beautiful People
by An Elemental Realist
Summary: Riku finds himself strangely amused by Yuffie's erratic behavior, and learns to finally accept friendship for what it truly is. 'YuRiku', Oneshot.


Author's Note: I would like to thank Warriorcat's Spirit for re-introducing this pairing to me. Without her brain, I probably would've abandoned YuRiku and its awesomeness. Writing this story had been a fantastic experience!

Character(s): Riku and Yuffie

Genre: Angst/Friendship

Perspective: Third Person

Tense(s): Past/Future

Theme: The Double-Sided Impression

* * *

The Beautiful People

o______O

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The stars were dangling out from his hands, but what about the plan? The magic didn't thud, and it certainly wouldn't budge. Yes, there was more to love, but not this dreaded fuzz. Why did it ever buzz? 'Said by the man who always thought because.

_. . . _

It was hard enough to imagine a much deeper cause, but even sadder to riddle oneself with a such a bitter pause. He was sure enough about his trip to the Majesty's dorm, but not this pasty man. This was not him, but then -- whoever was? Certainly not the man who thought at hand. "Good question," he told himself. "Who is he?" _He_ who wasn't there. Oh, how splendidly rare...

All the friends in the world couldn't bulk up a stare. It's much too rare, but pleasantly fair. The man with silver hair could only bring himself to care. "He's inside there." _There_? Where? Inside _there_...? "How about a race?" Did he keep up the pace? Never in _there_. Never behind that face.

_. . ._

"Are you alright?" a voice called to his throne. "You've been laid out for a while now." He could feel the gentle current ripple beneath him, but an anxious hiss to sooth the crisp bed of sand. "Hello...?" The voice was closer than he had imagined.

He quickly ran his fingers over his soft skin and aggressively pinched at his eyelids. "...Who are you?" He didn't feel ashamed to look at this one. She was unexpectedly joyful like the other one. "I've never seen you on these isles before."

"Who am I? Why, _I'm_ the great ninja Yuffie!" She laughed at her intro as the sun meticulously splashed the darkened sands with a warming blanket of light. The man in black ignored the enormous curtain, but watched as the wind eagerly whipped at the green shrubbery in the distance. "And yourself?" Part of him wanted to lie and play around with his words...and then part of him didn't. She wasn't too bad -- it seemed, but there was a hint of lore in those words.

Should the man succumb to the wondrous call of friendship, it will explode in his face yet again. She had to be hiding something... He was determined to drag out the answer. "An empty burden. I guess that you can call me the biggest nobody of them all." She grinned lazily at the silver-haired man, and returned another curious step to the lonely shore. ...The empty burden suddenly picked up his own weight to silence the prevailing tides that slapped at his chin.

"An empty burden, eh? Sounds depressing. Does he have a real name?" The vivacious ninja entreated. "Because I'd like to meet him!"

"His name is Riku," Riku commented dryly at the handsome sky. His eyes were heavy with envy and worry. Needless to say, they were not there for long. "So, how long have you been here, Yuffie?" He turned casually to greet the sight of the slender, black-haired woman who was now off on her toes. The sweet sea salt cleanly followed her entrance, as she firmly stepped onto the man's shadow.

"Riku? That's a nice name for a swordless git." A large smile stretched over her inspired lips, as each foot fall was made apparent. The man took his place under the toothless sun, and watched the restless ninja anxiously creep across the cool shore.

A squirmish hand poured into his sleeve. "She stole my Soul Eater!" Riku spat excitedly at the balmy breeze and its patterned course. "_...I_ never saw _that_ coming." He could see it in her eyes -- fretful and materialized. Her legs were spontaneous, but riddled with the disease of her lie. A lovely blend of sarcasm and dexterity will surely do the job right!

. . .

Ninjas nor thieves were her favorite tease. A ninja could swim steadily through the drunken midnight blue, as a thief could only wait for a marauding visit from above. But these were not hers'. She was always but a innocuous girl -- stripped of her soul -- and forced by a smile. Her smile was always there, even during a blistering hour like today's. It was hard enough to smile than to peck like an impassioned finch.

..._yea_, sure...

Actually, this smile came with the job. While that moronic boy searched for a trace, her smile slipped back into shape and began to shake carelessly. "Heh. Heh... That was too easy." As easy as it seemed to be, she couldn't help but imagine his expressionless face dazzle itself as it stormed her front. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about that sword was strikingly desirable. Perhaps that idiot boy will do anything for his precious toy.

"You can come out now," a voice stabbed at her fun. "Don't think that I can't hear you in _there_." ..._How_ did he find this place? A prickly bush always tricked that boring jerk, Squall, but not this boy? ...Just _how _could it be? "I thought that you were a ninja..."

. . .

The wind was hardly irreplaceable as it sped on its way. It told the man an assortment of things, and it never lied to him as it did. It told him that she had a spot on the grass, and not a place in the sand. It told him to search for her chirpy laugh when it echoed in its path. But it also told him to play along, and not to upstage the fun. After all, she was only a kid inside. Her smile reminded him of another friend.

"How did you know?" She whispered softly to herself.

The man grinned fearlessly as the wind told him more. The girl's voice spoke of that dreaded white -- it told him. It's ghostly tail emerged and fiddled with her dense plot, and it roared as it did. It laughed at her every failure when it talked. And sadly, the wind knew that it had a voice, but it pretended that that white didn't exist. "You sound tense. ...You know that blade that you have there...?"

. . .

. . . She quickly traced a numb hand over the sleepy ferns to regain the composure of her sight. For a while, she didn't want to look at him, but now -- it felt alright. There was nothing wrong with trusting a moron...right? "Yes," her tongue slid slightly.

_...Yes_, as in -- _no_?

The silver-haired boy was just a little shy of her frilly nest -- on the arc of the bridge. She always wanted to visit that bridge... "You can have it. I don't need that sword anymore." That sword? No way... This had to be a joke! Its colors of red and blue melted into a bleak but creepily haunting forest of insidious raven. It was strange . . . really. A cat's eye stitched itself in between both of the Soul Eater's sides. It stared at the young girl in a sleepless awe -- his frugally sword.

She never even wanted it, anyway... "Are you sure?" She slowly urged a foot upon the wistful grasslands and firmly lifted a wing onto its hopeful dive. Riku never moved a muscle.

. . .

He didn't have a chair in the darkness anymore, and he refused to with every inch of his body. ...Its power flowed evenly into the man's nostrils and drugged him with a unyielding lust for friends. Why, he always had those friends. They never left his grip, and he never left theirs'. ...The boy with spiky hair and the girl who lived in his heart...

They were inseparable in Riku's eyes, but they always weaved him a tight smile. "Positive." Back to the toasty air -- he went. Its course hadn't stilled, as it was streaming abroad the twilit skies. The wind rustled on its way back, and the man couldn't help one sloppy wave...even if it was standing right there.

. . .

He seemed different now...more pensive than she had first imagined, and less deliberate than he had first let on. "Well, I'm not takin' it. ...Sorry. I'm ninja, remember?" No, she was a thief more than anything, really... Or perhaps a ninja? She couldn't decide for herself what _she_ was.

"Yep. We can only be sure," Riku teased. "But I know for a fact that she's a Yuffie." _Yuffie_ rapped herself another laugh...as her eyes lazily searched for the boy's hidden disposal of materia. There had to some under in that thick veil of black!

"Heh...heh... Do you know anything about materia?" Riku's eyes broke apart from the fabulous ninja. They slipped into a voluminous shade of marvelous orange and brilliant pink while they still had the chance.

Yuffie couldn't quite grasp onto the boy's heightened logic, as it was floating away . . . and away . . . "Maybe not, but I know one thing." He marched and marched until his legs couldn't possibly toss themselves an inch no more, and his fist broke into an august brush of fingers. "I know that they'll always be in your heart. Don't lose sight of them." A poke looped its way onto the ninja's coal-seamed garments, and landed like a dot. "And they'll never lose sight of you."

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Sazh's Corner of Shame: **_Awkward, eh? YuRiku is just like that. *sigh* Oh well... I hope that this fanfiction wasn't too boring, or too descriptive for anyone's taste. It certainly didn't fit mine, but I did like a couple of lines and paragraphs._**

**_Anyway, tell me what you think. I want to know if Yuffie was in character and if Riku was right on the ball. It would be nice. R&R as well...  
_**

- Anonymous and French**_  
_**


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